1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to gas turbine engines, and more particularly to repair of gas turbine engine components.
2. Description of Related Art
Gas turbine engines like those used to power aircraft or for industrial applications generally include a compressor for pressurizing a supply of air, a combustor for burning a hydrocarbon fuel in the presence of the pressurized air, and a turbine for extracting energy from the resultant combustion gases. The compressor and the turbine modules generally include one or more stages. Each stage typically includes a rotor disk with a plurality of blades. Conventional rotor disks are typically either slotted disk rotors or integrally bladed rotors. Slotted disk rotors generally include disk slots that receive corresponding dovetail or fir-tree shaped blade roots. Integrally bladed rotors are typically machined from an oversized rotor disk forging and include blades metallurgically joined to the disk or solid state welded to a rotor disk.
There are different tradeoffs and advantages to using integrally bladed rotors versus slotted disk rotors, and engine manufacturers can choose either based on the needs for a specific application. For instance, integrally bladed rotors are more structurally efficient than slotted disk rotors. This allows for construction of more compact engines with smaller core diameters. Integrally bladed rotors also lack the joints formed between dovetail or fir tree blade roots and surrounding slot in slotted disk assemblies.
One challenge for engine designs incorporating integrally bladed rotors is repairing blade damage. During field use, foreign object debris can nick or otherwise damage leading edges, trailing edges, tips, and/or tip corners of the integrally bladed disk airfoils. This can decrease compressor performance and/or pose a possible risk of further cracking during service if not repaired. Since welding a forged material like an integrally bladed rotor can result in degraded mechanical properties in the weld material in relation to the base material, conventional repair processes generally use a blending process. While generally successful in reducing stress risers associated with such damage, conventional blending processes are generally limited to airfoil portions with relatively small amounts of damage. Repairing airfoil portions with larger damaged areas can be more difficult due to the complex shape of the integrally bladed rotor as well as the challenges of restoring the mechanical properties in the repaired area using conventional repair methods.
Such conventional methods and systems have generally been considered satisfactory for their intended purpose. However, there is still a need in the art for improved systems and methods of repairing damaged portions of integrally bladed rotors. The present disclosure provides a solution for this need.